UB community's support: 500,000 pieces of health material and 500 student volunteers
The UB community intensifies its involvement amid the health crisis and increases its support to fight coronavirus with new actions, initiatives and collaborations to help the hospitals, which are an important part of the university field.
The UB community intensifies its involvement amid the health crisis and increases its support to fight coronavirus with new actions, initiatives and collaborations to help the hospitals, which are an important part of the university field.
Creation of new ventilation equipment
The Hospital Clínic de Barcelona and Germans Trias i Pujol Hospital, and the University of Barcelona, are giving scientific support to the creation of devices that help patientsʼ breathing in case of a lack of conventional ventilators.
Three Catalan companies are creating and adapting emergency ventilator models to fight the COVID-19 crisis. The three proposals are in a phase of simulation and experimentation. If these pass the validation and have the authorization from the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Products, their production will be conducted at the industrial scale. The received support from civil society will be essential in the industrial process of the three models.
Moreover, the Biophysics and Bioengineering Unit of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences joined a cooperative campaign to make 3D-printed protective visors. These visors will be given to Hospital Clínic to help protect the health professionals.
Increase in donations
Donations have increased. The UB Group has given about 438,000 gloves, 32,550 masks, 773 hospital gowns, 13,200 hospital booties and 10,000 caps, apart from personal protection equipment, laboratory glasses and other health material. Several hospital centers have received the material from the faculties of Medicine and Health Sciences, Pharmacy and Food Sciences, and the faculties of Biology, Chemistry, Psychology and the Science and Technological Centers, the Barcelona Science Park and Josep Finestres Foundation. Six ventilators have been ceded, free from the Science and Technological Centers and one from the Nursing School, given to the Bellvitge Hospital, and another from IL3 to the Hospital de Mollet. These instruments are added to the sixteen beds and defibrillator that were sent last week from the Nursing School to the Bellvitge Hospital.
Moreover, the Beijing Foreign Studies University, partner of the Barcelona Confucius Institute, which collaborates with the UB, donated 500 masks to the UB in order to be soon distributed through the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.
A volunteering model
Regarding volunteering, the university community keeps answering the calls from the different centers. About 500 students from last year in Medicine and Nursing have offered to collaborate with the Department of Health. In addition, the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences made a call for student collaboration to bring medicines from the pharmacy to those who cannot leave their house.